NSServices not working

Question

Hi,

I've been trying to get NSServices working for my application recently with no success. I have set it up according to the documentation but it does not appear in the services menu ( however it does appear in the keyboard shortcuts section of the System Preferences as a service menu item) Anyway I set the service in my app controller like this:

[NSApp setServicesProvider:self];

The method exposed is:

- (void) addDownloadService:(NSPasteboard *)pboard

     userData:(NSString *)userData error:(NSString **)error

My Info.plist then looks like this:

<key>NSServices</key>
        <array>
                <dict>
                        <key>NSReturnTypes</key>
                        <array>
                                <string></string>
                        </array>
                        <key>NSKeyEquivalent</key>
                        <dict>
                                <key>English</key>
                                <string>S</string>
                                <key>Key equivalent (with command and shift)</key>
                                <string>S</string>
                        </dict>
                        <key>NSSendTypes</key>
                        <array>
                                <string>NSStringPboardType</string>
                                <string>NSURLPboardType</string>
                                <string>NSRTFPboardType</string>
                        </array>
                        <key>NSPortName</key>
                        <string>MyApp</string>
                        <key>NSMessage</key>
                        <string>addDownloadService</string>
                        <key>NSMenuItem</key>
                        <dict>
                                <key>English</key>
                                <string>MyNewService</string>
                                <key>default</key>
                                <string> MyNewService </string>
                        </dict>
                </dict>
        </array>

I tried running the debug command with textedit like so: /Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit -NSDebugServices com.companyname.MyApp

which outputs the following: MyNewService (com.companyname.MyApp) is disabled in the services menu and disabled in the context menu, by the standard Services policy.

Anyone any ideas why it might not be working?

Thanks Colin

Answer 1

I have just gone trough the same problem. It seems that Snow Leopard disables the third party services by default.

You have to open the Preferences> Keyboard Select the second tab (fast something, I don't remember right now) select the Services, look for yours, and activate it.

There is no other workaround that I am aware of.

Answer 2

You need to specify a list of required contexts using NSRequiredContext. This can be empty.

See http://lists.apple.com/archives/Cocoa-dev/2009/Sep/msg00201.html